


welcome home, little soullight

by iseemikimouse



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, M/M, Magic, Mentions of Death, Mentions of Time Travel, Mentions of War, Polyamory, Reincarnation!AU, Souls, baekhyun goes through it, dragon!AU, mentions of alternate universes, sooooo much angst, soulkeeper!au, the pairing is a secret until the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26249608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iseemikimouse/pseuds/iseemikimouse
Summary: Baekhyun is sent to the Kingdom of Dragons where he will meet with the king. This shouldn't be a problem, it really should, so why is heart in pain and why does want to cry?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/?/?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: EXOventure Round 1 2020





	welcome home, little soullight

Baekhyun jumps down from the riding lynx, his robes fluttering behind him. He sighs when he lands on the ground and looks around, taking in the forest surrounding him. He can hear the quiet chirps of the animals and feel the gentle breeze against his skin. But his eyes are glued to the route in front of him. 

He blinks a couple of times, the feeling of recognition flooding his system just as he takes a step back at the intense feeling in his body, grabbing onto the lynx’s fur to steady himself. 

He’s been here before. 

...

But when? 

He doesn’t remember coming to visit this place nor does he remember walking through it. He would remember the lush green trees and the sounds of a river near him. 

With furrowed brows, he detangles his fingers from the lynx and walks around the small clearing. Each step he takes is followed by the quiet thump of the staff in his hand as he tries to make sure that the staff sees everything that it can. He needs the little white soul ball to see the sights of the world. 

The clearing helps clear his head as he looks around. That realization itching in the back of his mind was beginning to get too much and too frustrating for him. Besides, he wants to take a moment and appreciate the things around him at the moment, the sinking feeling in his gut is telling him that he’s not going to have a moment during this trip. 

Baekhyun looks to his soul staff, his eyes finding the little white soul ball in the center. Why did the High Priest send him to the Kingdom of Dragons? And why did he look a little smug when he sent Baekhyun off with a wave? The High Priest never ever told Baekhyun why he was coming to the Kingdom of Dragons, only that he was needed here and it had to be him. He’s not some kind of special soulkeeper. 

He’s an average one who doesn’t remember his training. 

He collects the proper soul pieces, tells his souls stories, and cares for his souls just as much as everyone else does, so why him? What makes him, Byun Baekhyun, special enough to visit the King of Dragons?

He runs his free hand over his face before turning in his heel and walking back towards his lynx. The riding animal had decided to lay down until they left the clearing... and that didn’t sound like a bad idea. He is tired from traveling as the Southern Soul Temple is almost a two week ride away from where he currently is. 

Plopping on the ground, he sits next to his riding animal, leaning against the soft fur and closes his eyes for a moment, the sound of the forest pulling him into a soft state of sleep. 

The depth of his mind begins to sing him a lullaby and before he can really listen and fall asleep to it, there’s a wet snout against his cheek. He doesn’t jolt when he feels the wet sensation against his skin anymore, having been woken up by his lynx companion many times before. A chuckle falls out of his mouth as he reaches to pet the top of her head. 

They have to get going. 

With a quick stretch and look over at his surroundings, Baekhyun and his riding lynx begin their adventure towards the tower in the distance. 

As he’s leaving, though, he catches a glimpse of green eyes staring back at him. He blinks a couple of times, awe filling him as he realizes that the eyes looking at him have to be some of the brightest green he’s ever seen but once the thought pass through his mind and another blink, the eyes are gone. 

He guesses that he’ll hit the edge of the Kingdom of Dragons in a few hours or so. The sun is high in the sky and he wants to be able to get some proper rest on a bed tonight. He just hopes that the trail is clear from any disturbances that would hinder his travel. 

Another thing his forgetful High Priest told him was that once he hit the edge of the Kingdom of Dragons that he’s going to have an escort to lead him to the palace. He is grateful for the guide but is the guide something he really needs? Maybe the situation on why the king needs a soulkeeper is more important that Baekhyun realizes. 

He shrugs. 

The trip to the tower takes the rest of the day with Baekhyun almost falling asleep on the lynx’s back a few times. Normally, he wouldn’t mind the quiet that comes with traveling by himself but this time, it feels different. It really does feel like this is his last soul trip that he’s going to be doing. 

And that’s what it is, his last soul trip. 

Baekhyun has lived a long life, almost three hundred years thanks to the spell placed on him when he became a soulkeeper. His elders always told him that there will come a moment when it’s time to continue his life as a normal person and for the past year, he felt that it's been time. There’s something else that he should be doing, but he doesn’t know what. He knows that he’s going to kiss this job, though. He’s going to miss creating stories for his souls, helping them piece their missing soul pieces together and he’s going to miss the friends that he’s made from the different temples, but time is time and Baekhyun’s time at the Soul Temple is just about done. 

They approach the tower when Baekhyun’s thoughts led to where he should settle down at appear. He has to crane his head upward to see the entire building as it’s one of the tallest buildings in all of the kingdoms. Made completely out of stone and some wood, the Kingdom of Dragons guard tower is a sight to behold. Various dragons fly in and out of the top of the buildings, most likely where the dragon stables are located. They fly in all directions, some of them with small humanoid figures sitting on their backs. Baekhyun stops the lynx for a moment just to watch how powerful the dragons looks in the sky. He’s amazed but at the same time he feels like he’s used to see dragons flying. 

He shakes his head and allows the lynx to continue. 

They come to a low building a little ways away from the actual tower. Vines cover most of the building almost like the plants wish to consume the stone structure. Little pink and red flowers bloom in different areas making the building seem more fairy like than dragon. What made the entrance to the Kingdom of Dragon’s guard tower seem more dragon like, however, is of course the sleeping black dragon in front. 

With the sky beginning to turn pink and orange, the reflection made the scales seem like an endless abyss of fire. It sleeps curled onto itself, three times larger than Baekhyun’s lynx. 

The dragon’s head shoots up, serpentine yellow eyes stare back at Baekhyun’s crystal white ones, showing a single thick stripe of white running down its throat. It tilts its head to the side, yellow eyes looking Baekhyun up and down, almost like it’s assessing the soulkeeper for any signs of attack. 

A forked tongue passes through scaled lips before the massive reptile lets out a loud chuffing noise and places it’s head back against the ground, it’s eyes closing. 

Baekhyun lets out a sigh of relief that he didn’t know he was holding. 

“God damn it, Sannie,” comes a voice. “You’re going to scare Jisung again.” 

The door to the building opens and out comes a man a little bit taller than Baekhyun. His blond hair is cropped short, his fringe side swept. He wears the riding uniform of the Dragon military, a skin tight white top tucked into tight black pants. His boots reach his knees, the material looking suspiciously like dragon scales while the strapped shoulder amor on his left arm is made out of metal. There’s a couple of swords strapped to his waist, his hands reaching for the hilt when he sees Baekhyun still sitting on the back of the lynx. 

Kicking a leg over, Baekhyun jumps off the lynx, white and yellow robes fluttering with his movements. It looks like the dragon rider notes his clothes because he lets his hands drop from his sword and bows his head a little bit.

"Hello," says the man. "Is there something I can help you with?" 

Baekhyun inclines his head in response. "My name is Byun Baekhyun and I'm from the Southern Soul Temple. My presence was requested by the king." 

The man nods slowly before giving Baekhyun a smile. He motions to the door behind him. "We’ve been awaiting your arrival, Sir Baekhyun. My name is Park Seonghwa and I’m one of the captains here at the guard tower. Please come this way as we have a room for you to stay the night. The escort from the palace will be arriving tomorrow." 

Baekhyun follows Seonghwa into the low building, only getting brief glimpses of the people inside. Some of them catch his eyes before they’re gone behind a wall while others don’t pay attention to him at all. 

Seonghwa leads him outside into a massive round courtyard. People and dragons lounge around at different paces, riders washing their animals while others insepect their dragons scales almost like they’re looking for something. A couple others seem to catch his hosts eyes, coming to attention when they pass through and glancing at Baekhyun when he too walks pass. 

“We can leave your lynx on the ground stables. I’m sure they don’t want to climb the tower,” says Seonghwa, motioning to the stables near the door of the tower. “There’s always someone on guard at the stables so nothing will happened to them.”

Baekhyun furrows his brows. “Do people steal from the stables?” 

Seonghwa has a sheepish smile on his face. “No. It’s actually to keep the dragons out of the ground stables. Most of the people love her and the ground stables is where we keep our livestock. We have a few night dragons that like snacks.” 

Baekhyun sends a look to his lynx who looks back at him. “And she’s going to be safe?” 

“Of course!” Seonghwa smiles. 

The only thing that Baekhyun can do is to trust that nothing is going to happen to his lynx at this point. He walks his lynx to the stables where the guard smiles and him and takes her off Baekhyun’s hands for the night. With a long pat and a starch behind her ears, he walks back to Seonghwa who leads him into the tower and up flights of stairs. 

Inside of the stone stairwell are portraits of the landscape and windows are every few feet. The pictures become more intricate with their colors and the stories they’re trying to tell. 

After a few rounds of circles, wooden doors begin to appear, almost all of them closed save for the ones leading to a couple of bedrooms, and a library. A couple of heads poke out when they hear footsteps coming up with a few hands waving at Seonghwa. They continue to climb up the stairs before stopping at a closed door. Seonghwa opens it showing a decent sized bedroom. Baekhyun’s eyes zoom in on the bed, his body suddenly feeling tired.

"This will be your room for the night," Seonghwa says, taking a step into the room. "Another guard will come in a little bit to see if you're hungry for dinner. They'll knock a couple of times and if you don't answer, then they will peek." He says this with a sheepish smile on his face. "It's not to get into your private business but to make sure that everything is alright." 

Baekhyun chuckles and nods in understanding, following Seonghwa into the room and placing his things on top of the bed. 

"If there is anything that you need while you're here, you can ask anyone and they'll be willing to help you." 

Seonghwa turns to leave just as Baekhyun stares at a picture of a dragon.

A question enters his mind and while he knows that maybe Seonghwa isn't going to have any answers for him, it's not going to hurt to ask.

"Wait," Baekhyun calls out, causing Seonghwa to pause. "Do you know if there's something going on in the palace where they are needing a soulkeeper?" 

"Not that I've heard of," says the guard captain with a shake of his head. 

Knowing that he was correct in guessing Seonghwa's answer, Baekhyun sighs. "Alright. I was just curious. Thank you." 

Seonghwa nods before leaving and shutting the door quietly, leaving Baekhyun to himself. He flops into the bed, next to his things, his eyes landing on his staff attached to his bag. He had strapped it on his bag when he left the clearing earlier and he’s slightly glad that he did. It’s serving as a reminder that before he can go to sleep, that he needs to tell his stories to the soul in his soul staff. 

He pushes himself off the bed, grabbing his staff, and taking a deep breath. He looks around the room noting the wooden side tables on either side of the bed, a dresser pressed to one of the walls, and a door that leads into the bathroom. Above the bed is a picture of a beautiful white and red dragon with its wing span taking up most of the frame. 

He walks to the only window in the room where a long bench sits underneath. He doesn’t think when he walks to the window and peers outside where the sun is gone and the sky has deep pinks and purples. The forest which he came from looks nothing more than a massive sea of trees, something Baekhyun has only seen a couple of times thanks to his travels around the continent. 

He continues to look down, spotting the dragon from before. It’s sitting up and doing something similar to what Baekhyun does in the morning after a nice rest. A white light comes from the dragon before engulfing the creature and becoming smaller. The light disappears and out comes a human man. He runs towards the opening of the low building and disappears inside. 

Baekhyun looks away after a couple of minutes staring into space before turning to the staff in his hand. He takes a breath trying to figure out what kind of story he wants to tell the soul and what kind of story the soul would enjoy right now. 

Would it be a traveling story? A story about someone fighting for their home? 

A smile appears on Baekhyun’s face. 

He knows one he can start. 

He walks back to the bed and sits, placing his bag on the ground. Setting down the staff on the bed, he opens the little compartment where the soul ball sits, the white soul pulsing the more he touches it. He cups his hands and brings it to his face, closing his eyes and reciting a small barrier spell to begin his story. Pulling his hands away from his face, Baekhyun begins. 

Baekhyun tells the story of a man wandering the forest and looking for a place to sleep for the night. He brings in all of the emotions that he felt as he was travelling to the Kingdom of Dragons, as well as the emotions of finding a place to sleep. He describes the scenery with so much detail that someone could paint a picture from his words. 

The soul ball in his hands glows a little brighter than before, as if listening to the story is giving it life... well like it's growing because of the story. 

Baekhyun's thumbs draw lazy circles around the ball, the action soothing to both him and the soul. He knows much these stories that he makes up means to all of the soul balls that he's had; how much life he puts into words so that the souls can be reborn. While he doesn't know what kind of lives his souls will have when they're reborn, he can give them a sense of what the world is like. He can give them the hope of returning. 

He ends his story by placing the soul ball back into its compartment. He leaves the door open to let the soul ball breath a little more and will probably leave the door open until they have to leave in the morning. 

Baekhyun stands up from the bed but not before gently placing his staff on the ground. He walks back to the window, kneeling on the little bench under it. He looks to the moon and feels his body relax. Maybe the moon goddess is smiling at him. 

"It's beautiful here," he says to the soul. "The trees go on for miles and the sky is in purples and oranges. I'm sure when you are reborn, you'll be able to see a sight like this." There's a small smile on Baekhyun's face when he glances back down. 

He looks back down where the dragon shifter has come back outside with someone who looks similar to Seonghwa. They're speaking to each other before there's a light covering the dragon shifter and Seonghwa is mounting a black dragon.

"There's a dragon. A beautiful black dragon. I passed it when I came in and I think it's a dark dragon but I can't be too sure." He drums his fingers on the windowsill. "I thought dark dragons were only pure black but this one seems to have a thick stripe of white running down the side of its face." Baekhyun pauses for a couple of seconds before whistling. "Unless it's a yin and yang dragon. Those are super rare and very powerful."

When the dragon takes off, there's a part of him that feels awe as he watches the powerful being push himself off the ground. Strong wings flutter against the wind, the more that he pushes himself. Sannie, as Seonghwa had yelled at him, continues to fly up, not paying attention to anything other than trying to gain altitude. 

The more he watches, the more he feels an odd sense of familiarity. He's seen a dragon take off before, he knows he has, but where and when? Where and when did this happen to him? 

He looks away from the sky when he can no longer see Sannie and Seonghwa, confusion running around in his mind. Is this feeling going to be following him around while he's on this trip? It shouldn't, but it might. Afterall, Baekhyun's memory is super hazy before he came back from the Kingdom fo Dragons a few years ago. Maybe this will be a good thing for him. Maybe he'll find the answers to the burning question he's been asking himself: What happened when he supposedly came back from the Kingdom of Dragons? 

He crosses his arms over the windowsill and looks outside, his eyes a little droopy. It takes a few minutes before he closes his eyes and falls asleep. 

When Baekhyun opens his eyes, he's standing in front of a ruined center courtyard. Stones are scattered everywhere with vines wrapped around the pieces of broken buildings. Where the stables were are massive giant pieces of the fallen tower and more shrubbery where mother nature has reclaimed it. 

In his hands, sits a large white soul ball ready to be put through the rebirth ritual. It's heavy in his hands and hard for him to toss in the air as the ritual requires. This is going to be an interesting ceremony. 

But before he can even think about beginning, something strange happens: the soul ball glows brighter than before. Baekhyun stares at the ball and licks his lips. This isn't supposed to be happening. 

The light continues to grow in brightness until it becomes unbearable to look at. He looks away as the ball lifts itself into the air, the light starting to take the form of a tall man with blond hair and pale skin. Baekhhyun can't see the face of the man as it's blurred but there's a sense of something that he can't put his finger on. 

"Who?" he breathes out. 

The man looks at him, raising a brow. "You're the voice I've been hearing." 

Baekhyun blinks a couple of times, confusion running all over his face. He nods slowly before he takes notice in what the man is wearing, the uniform of a dragon rider from the past, form fitting tanned pants tucked into calf high leather boots, and a black long sleeved top with the right sleeve and torso completely covered in dragon scales. 

"My name is ------ and I am ------," he says causing Baekhyun's eyes to widen. 

"I'm Baekhyun." 

But this is just a dream, a place where if something wants to be concealed, then it's going to be concealed. He tries to see the man's face but there's nothing. Not even the conversation between the two of them makes any sense. The other man's name and who he is blocked from Baekhyun's mind. 

The more that the man's face is in his direction, the more that it feels like he's looking and smiling at him. He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth to stay something only for something to open above his head. It's like a tear in the universe, filled with blues, reds, and purples. The tear gets larger with each passing second, becoming large enough for something to come out of the tear. Something takes the form of massive scaly legs, connected to a torso and a head. 

Baekhyun takes a couple of steps back when he recognizes the creature that stepped out of the tear. His jaw falls slack and the strength in his legs leaves him when the creature actually stands before him. 

"That's impossible," he breathes. "Dragons don't exist." 

The faceless man scoffs. "Of course they do. They've always existed."

Baekhyun shakes his head. "No they haven't. No one has seen a dragon in the past two thousand years." 

The man whips his faceless head at him and it feels like his eyes are boring into the side of his head. He walks closer to Baekhyun, bending down a little bit. "What do you mean?" 

"Just that," Baekhyun says, starting to stand up. His legs still feel like jelly, but the more he stands near the giant beast, the more he finds himself becoming numb to the situation. "The Great Dragon War ended with the supposed death of the Dragon King, ------. With the king dead, the Kingdom of Dragons fell and no one has seen a dragon since then." 

The man shakes his head but Baekhyun can't read his emotions."Two thousand years?" 

"Yes. You really did come from the Dragon Era." 

"The Dragon Era?" says a new voice. 

Baekhyun stares wide eyed at the man who falls from the back of the dragon. He's a little bit shorter than the first man and he too wears a dragon rider uniform, the only difference are the colors. Much like the first man, this man doesn't have a face and Baekhyun wakes up in a start when he tried to really look at the man's face. He clutches his chest and takes a couple of deep breaths before running his hands down his face. His dream doesn't make sense. The Dragon King did win the Great Dragon War and he never died. 

What's going on?

  
  


Baekhyun sits on his lynx, his fingers gripping the lynx's reins tight enough to show white knuckles. His mind is turning, trying to figure out his dream meant. What did it mean when one decides to recreate history? Can anyone even do that? It has to be impossible... right? Besides, even if someone decided to change history, that would change the flow of time and so many things wouldn't have made any sense. 

So why? 

He shakes his head. He's thinking about this too hard. It was just a dream and nothing to get his mind all torn up about. 

"Byun Baekhyun!" someone yells, snapping him out of his mind. 

He glances next to him to see furrowed brows and concerned blue eyes. For a moment, he doesn't recognize the man sitting on a dragon's back. He smiles at the other man, his grip on the lynx's reigns loosening. 

"Yes, Jongdae?" he asks. 

Jongdae sighs, his body slacking a little bit. "You look like you're thinking hard about life."

Baekhyun tries to keep the smile on his face as he tries to think of the best way to respond to the other's words. "Just a feeling of deja vu. I'm thinking my past life might have travelled this area before," he says the half truth. 

It's the only thing that he can think of but at the same time, it's the only thing that makes any sense. While he can't pinpoint what the fuck was happening in his dreams, he knows that this road that they're currently travelling on is one that he might have taken before. Maybe it is a past life that walked down this road before or maybe it was sometime during his lost memory but the direction is familiar. 

The road to the Dragon Palace goes through three different towns, Maria, Rose, and Sina, all of which are very old towns. All three of them played an important role in the history of the Dragon King and the Great Dragon War. Town Maria was an important post during the war as it was a place where supplies came in from the other kingdoms. Town Rose was originally a village that was supposed to be protected by later becoming the village that would signify the end of the war. And Town Sina was where the Treaty of Dragons was signed. 

At least that's what Jongdae is telling Baekhyun as they continue to travel. 

Echoes of war pass through Baekhyun's mind, echoes of souls calling out for help. He sighs, continuing to listen to Jongdae's long drawl. 

They come to Town Maria at twilight, a beautiful orange sky above them. Buildings of white, tan, and blue fill different areas with their different shapes and sizes. People walk along the streets, some with children and some with other people. Shouting and laughter can be heard from all angles of town, enough to put a small smile on Baekhyun's face. 

"To think a ruined village would have grown," he mumbles to himself.

"I beg your pardon?" Jongdae asks, incredulously.

Baekhyun blinks a couple of times before realizing what it is he said. His eyes widen and he shakes his head. "It's nothing."

Jongdae gives him an odd look before pushing his dragon forward. 

The further they walk into town, the more Baekhyun sees fuzzy glimpses of ruined buildings, rotted toys, and a place claimed by nature. He stops his lynx in front of a white marble building with a circular green roof. Thin gold stripes are placed in areas where it looks like it's holding the building together. It's a beautiful building. 

Baekhyun's mind flashes. 

Now he sees a caved in green roof, the color so faded that he can barely make up the color. The gold is gone, the paint long peeled off by time, and the white is stained brown. Vines have climbed up the pillars, each strand having soft pink flowers scattered around. 

He blinks and the ruined building is gone. 

"Baekhyun?" questions Jongdae. 

"Coming," he responds. 

Jongdae leads him to a stable next to an inn where they're able to put their animals up for the night. Baekhyun pats his lynx's fur or a little bit longer before following his escort into the inn. 

Before he can even open his mouth, however, a key is thrusted into his hand with a wide smile coming from the other man. He leads him up stairs before waving goodbye and goodnight to him and entering his room. Baekhyun does the same. 

Much like the room at the guard tower, the room is plain with a bed, a dresser, and a door to the washroom. There's a small window above the bed with just enough space for natural light to seep through. 

He lays on the bed, his gaze instantly finding a mural of dragons above him, the images depicting a great battle between dragons, their riders, and the people within the Kingdom of Dragons. His eyes follow the lines that make up the characters before the glance over the colors of white, red, blue, and yellow. 

Sitting up, he grabs his soul staff off his bag and puts it on the bed, opening the compartment. He doesn't take it out this time, opting to lay back down, and stare at the ceiling again. He says his small barrier spell and begins his nightly story for the soul. He tells a story about a valiant dragon king saving his people and all dragons alike while his eyes continue to follow the mural above him. 

This continues until he closes his eyes for just a moment and opens them to a dark sky. There's a blanket on top of him and something soft under his head. He can feel heat coming from somewhere on his left causing him to turn his head to look over. The two faceless men are sitting side by side, their knees nearly touching each other's. Both of them have their faces to the sky almost as if they're waiting for it to open once more and take them to the past. Baekhyun wants to laugh at the ridiculousness of it. 

It takes him a moment to realize that he's not in the same place that he thought he was in. Sitting up, he looks around, the faint light coming from the fire pit illuminating disfigured buildings and cracked stones. 

"Where am I?" he asks. 

"If what you're saying is true then this is the village of Maria," says one of the men. "It's the village furthest from the Dragon Palace." 

Baekhyun hums, as the name echoes in his mind. "I've heard of the village Maria," he says "It was the last dragon village to fall... at least that's what the rumors say. Village Maria tried to keep the traditions and the dragons alive but they fell into a horrible civil war that started with the death of the noble line and ended with the death of the last noble child." He licks his lips. "This is said to have been the last village to see dragons." 

"Maria was the last to fall?" the same man asks. 

Of course it was," the other man chuckles, running his fingers through his hair. "Village Maria is the birthplace of the royal ------ line. So it makes sense." 

\------ stands up from where he was sitting and walks around the lighted area, shaking his head. He picks up the buried doll, the fabric crumbling under his finger tips.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," says the dragon rider looking at his dragon a little ways away from them. "We were supposed to win the war and the Kingdom of Dragons was supposed to be strong for thousands of years to come." 

Baekhyun shakes his head and smiles sheepishly at the two men from the Dragon Era who look at some kind of building shape. "Times change and things happen," he says. "We can always make plans and strive to have our families and our lives planned out, but things can happen. The Dragon Era might have come and gone in this world but ------ has given us a chance to fix the past. If we fix the past, then none of this will be real. It would have been like a nightmare for all of us." 

\------ and ------ say nothing to Baekhyun and instead stare out into the open. Baekhyun yawns, his tiredness seeping through his body. He guesses that he was awake for a little bit longer than he intended and they have a long journey. He lays back down, choosing not to say anything to the other two and instead focus on some rest. 

He gives them the privacy to talk to each other as they seem to know the other, so he turns his back to them. For a little while, he stares out into the darkness that begins to feel uncomfortable. Maybe he should face the other way, that way he can actually sleep. 

Baekhyun does just that. 

His eyes zoom in on the two men who are once again sitting next to each other with their knees barely touching. He stares at them for a moment before shutting his eyes, knowing that he shouldn't be watching two people kiss. It was obvious from the way they interacted with each other that they knew each other but he didn't know it was like this. 

He finds it a little romantic, kissing under the stars before finding it a little sad. Since history is correct, they ------ was killed first before the ------. He doesn't know how long it's been since then but he figures they deserve their privacy. 

So why does it feel like his heart is breaking? And why is there a sense of calmness washing over him? 

What?

Baekhyun wakes just as the sun begins to rise. He blankly stares at the wall, confused on what the actual fuck is going on. He looks down to his hands before getting out of bed and going to look out the window. 

The Village Maria in his dream was ruined and destroyed but Town Maria is right here and it's still thriving. What is happening?

  
  


Baekhyun looks back at Maria when he and Jongdae leave the town as half of his mind sees the ruined town from his dreams and the other half sees the town that he just left. Jongdae is giving him a couple of glances before he clears his throat.

"Is there something wrong?" Jongdae asks.

Baekhyun makes a face. "Does it seem like something is wrong?" 

"I wouldn't be asking if that wasn't the case." 

"I suppose you're right." Baekhyun doesn't say anything for a moment before he sighs. "Have you ever dreamt something that hasn't happened?"

"Like a premonition dream?" 

Baekhyun shakes his head. "It's not a premonition dream but something that feels like has already happened but I have no recollection of it." 

"So like a past memory?" 

Baekhyun mentally sighs. This is a little ridiculous as none of this is making sense out loud. He takes a deep breath. "Yes." 

"There's a but to that sentence," says Jongdae, raising a brow at him. 

"Yes." Baekhyun glances to the trail. "It's like the guard tower and Village Maria are places that I've been to before but I know that I haven't... or at least I think I haven't. But that's not the craziest thing about them... These places in my dreams, these places are in ruins and the dragons lost the Great Dragon War." 

Jongdae sucks in a breath before furrowing his brows. He blinks a couple of times and Baekhyun can see the confusion and the question about Baekhyun's sanity in his eyes. The only thing Baekhyun can do at this moment is shake his head and run his hands down the sides of his face.

"I know it doesn't make any sense." He gives Jongdae a pained smile. "But I might just be going crazy. Don't listen to me. I just need to probably rest, that's all. How far until we reach the next town?" 

Jongdae gives Baekhyun a long look before looking straight. Baekhyun sees him tighten his hands against the dragon's reins.

"We should be there soon," Jongdae says. 

They don't speak for the remainder of the trip to Town Rose, Baekhyun is too trying not to think too much about his dreams. He glances at Jongdae from time to time as he tries to open his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. He stops trying after their small break. 

Town Rose sits in a small valley, two small mountains sit on either side of the town. Tall trees surround one side of the town and trickles in. The buildings are in various shades of browns and greens, almost like the people of Town Rose wanted to hide their location. 

To Baekhyun, Town Rose looks the same as the town in his dreams, which confuses him. For the past two places that he's visited, both places have been in ruin, so why is Town Rose looking almost the same as it does? What does this mean? 

As they make their way through town, they make their way to the middle of town where Baekhyun finds an old tea house that's screaming to him that he's been here before. When he dismounds from his lynx, he lets his feet take him inside where he heads to a table for two, not knowing if Jongdae has followed him in here or not.

Inside of the tea shop there are low tables in rows with only a handful of people inside. Different scents of teas waft around the room, mixed with the smells of finger foods. Like almost everything he's seen in the Kingdom of Dragons, there are pictures of different dragons hung up in different areas. 

Baekhyun's eyes, however, land in the center of the room where there's a clear space and a high table. An old woman sits there with her hands folded on top of the table. Her face is covered by a hood but there's a wide smile that Baekhyun sees coming from her. A small crowd surrounds her table, bright smiles on their faces like they're waiting for her to say something. She clears her throat when Jongdae sits across from him.

"Town Rose is known for their storytellers," Jongdae says. 

Baekhyun glances at Jongdae, a question written on his face.

Jongdae smiles gently. "Outside of Town Rose is the old battlefield of the Great Dragon War. This battlefield was the turning point of the war and the main reason why we won it in the first place." 

Baekhyun nods. "I remember you talking about it, but you didn't let me know why? What made this battle so special?" 

Jongdae opens his mouth but the voice that comes out of his mouth isn't male. It's female. They both turn their attention to the old storyteller in the middle of the room. Her smile seems to grow larger when Baekhyun looks back to her.

"They say that during the last battle of the Great War was an interesting one," she says, leaning forward. "It was a super close battle that we almost lost. The Great Dragon King went missing during this battle for three days and everyone believed him dead. He, however, bested everyone and appeared with the Great Dragon Knight and a man that no had ever seen before."

Baekhyun blinks a couple of times but he finds himself standing on a battlefield. He doesn't know how he got here but he's there and he feels like crying. He can hear the cries of souls, many of which are angry and want revenge. He shakes his head and tries to catch the angry souls but they don't want to be caught.

"The soldiers belonging to the Dragon King were confused," the storyteller continues, "as they all thought the Dragon Knight to have been dead. Nothing had made sense but the battle was won and the Kingdom of Dragons has continued to live on ever since." 

Baekhyun stands with his head in his hands, his heart hurting because he can't help the souls like he wants to. He can feel the tears prickling in his eyes. Someone turns him around so he doesn't look at the battlefield and instead, he feels a chest against his head where he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath and tries not to let the tears flow from his cheeks.

"It'll be alright, Baek. I promise," someone says. 

Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut when he feels a hand at his back, rubbing circles into it. He knows that it's not the man hugging him but someone else. He stays like that for a couple of seconds before someone shakes him. His eyes snap out and in front of him is Jongdae and not one of the men whose face he can't see.

"You're crying," Jongdae says quietly. 

Baekhyun blinks a couple of times before wiping the tears off his face. He gives a pained smile at the escort before shaking his head.

"I don't know why though," Baekhyun says. "I don't know anything really." 

Jongdae licks his lips and jolts his head towards the entrance. "Maybe you go and rest. It's been a long day and you've been travelling far longer than I have." 

Baekhyun stands from the table along with Jongdae. They leave the tea house but not without Baekhyun looking over his shoulder to see bright green eyes and a smile that he feels like he should know. He looks away and follows Jongdae, who has begun to untie their animals from the post. They had spent more time in the tea house than Baekhyun originally thought, with the sky slowly turning orange.

They find their way to an inn with a stable where they set up their animals for the night. Jongdae once again gets the rooms to which Baekhyun just smiles. It's a little odd being treated like the way that he is, but it's not bad. He knows he can't get used to something like this but that doesn't mean that he can't enjoy not having to worry about the inns. Tomorrow, though, he'll be the one treating Jongdae to an inn as a thank you for putting up with him. 

He heads to his room where he just plops on his bed without looking around and almost goes without telling the soul in staff a story. He doesn't grab the staff from his bag, opting to keep the bag on the bed. 

"Tonight," he begins, "I'm going to tell a story about a legend of dragons that I once heard. They say that long ago, before the start of all the kingdoms, the dragons here were no larger than butterflies. Flower faeries and pixies used to ride them but the more they grow and the more the flower faeries and pixies started to become extinct, the larger the dragons became." Baekhyun yawns and shuts his eyes. "They say that..." 

Baekhyun opens his eyes and he's in a tent with a blanket over him. He doesn't think when he pulls the blanket off himself and walks out of the tent. This time while being here, he doesn't question his whereabouts or anything. He just does as his body lets him. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, he stares at the battlefield a little ways away from him. He can still hear the cries of the angry souls and it continues to break his heart.

"What are you doing up?" a voice asks, causing Baekhyun to turn around. Unfortunately, he still can't see the face of the man he's talking to but from the color of his hair, Baekhyun can tell it's the man whose soul he had nurtured. 

"Looking," he says, looking back out at the field. 

"You need to rest." 

"I can't. Not like this." 

"Baekhyun..." 

Baekhyun turns back around and he shakes his head "They're crying, -------. They're crying out for help. It's my job to send them off. To nurture and protect them." He takes a deep breath. "I can't just leave them like this." 

"Baekhyun..." 

"I have to go." Baekhyun takes one step forward when an arm pulls him back. He's caged into a pair of arms and a warm chest. He tries to fight the grip ------ has on him, but the man is too strong for him. 

He feels his body being dragged back to the tent where once the man is successful, he forces Baekhyun to lay down. His body is caged to the bed, the man hovering over him. It feels like the man is staring at Baekhyun and it makes him feel a little small. He stares up into what he assumes is the other man's eyes but he can't tell. 

"You're going to rest and stay here," he says.

"B-" 

"But nothing. You're going to stay here and that's that. Now close your eyes and go to sleep." 

The man covers Baekhyun with a blanket and does something that he would have never expected. 

He leans down, pressing a kiss to Baekhyun's lips.

The room seems to freeze as clear and blue eyes stare at each other. Baekhyun's cheeks feel like there's heat to them and his heart is hammering in his chest. He knows that he's been attracted to the two Dragon era men but they're the ones that should be kissing. Not him and the ------. 

The other man backs away before leaving the tent. 

Baekhyun on the other hand is in a state of shock at the kiss that he doesn't move from the bed. Not even when he wakes up back in the inn in Town Rose does he move from his spot on the bed. Something rolls down the side of his face but he makes no move to remove it. 

He stares at the ceiling, a massive sense of longing filling his entire being.

  
  


Baekhyun feels a little bad as he didn't realize how long he had been staring at the ceiling. There were so many questions in his mind that he wasn't sure on how to answer them or even what the answer was which is the main reason why they were late in their travels. 

Jongdae did offer for them to leave the next day but Baekhyun felt bad enough. They were going to leave in the proper moment. At the moment, they are somewhere in between Town Rose and Town Sina with Baekhyun's mind in a daze. Today feels different for him. Today he feels like he's finally going to get to bottom of these odd dreams that he's been having since he started this journey. 

"Are you sure that you're alright?" Jongdae asks, snapping Baekhyun out of his mind. 

He looks to the other man and just sighs. Debating if it would be a good idea to tell him his thoughts, if it would be proper for him to tell him. 

"I just don't understand what my dream is trying to tell me." He says after a few minutes, the debate of just talking about it losing. "But enough of that. Since you're being my escort, do you know why the king has called for me and why it's me?" 

Jongdae is silent for a moment causing Baekhyun to look over to him. He notices that he's gripping the dragon's reins tightly. He doesn't look at Baekhyun.

"The king is worried about the prince," says Jongdae, with a long breath. 

"What do you mean?" 

"There's a story that's been passed down from generation to generation but no one can seem to see if the story is true or not. I don't know what the story is, unfortunately, so I can't be of any help towards that. All I know is a few years ago, his highness changed. He changed from this man who could care less about anything to someone who cares about everything. There were rumors going around that it's because of the story of the ancients but I'm not sure." He shakes his head. "I believe the king wants you to look into the story. Soulkeepers are storytellers in their own right and he thinks that you might be able to help." 

Baekhyun drums his fingers against the body of the lynx. He stares ahead thinking about the words that came from Jongdae but he doesn't have a guess on what needs to be done just yet. He needs to hear the story that has been passed down.

"I'm more of a soulkeeper than a storyteller, though," says Baekhyun. "I don't understand. Why not ask someone who is more of a storyteller?" 

Jongdae shakes his head. "I can't speak for the king or the royal family. I'm just serving them." 

Baekhyun sighs, knowing that this conversation is over. He looks to the dragon that Jongdae is riding on and a question pops into his mind. "Do all dragons shift?" 

Jongdae looks at him with wide eyes for a second before he laughs and shakes his head.

"No. Only those with dragon blood can shift which means, the royal family, nobles, and old families can." He pats the dragon's side. "Chanyeol here is part of House Park, one of the current five noble houses. He wanted to serve the royal family instead of trying to take the throne from them. He's fond of the prince." 

Chanyeol huffs, a little puff of smoke comes out from his snout, while Baekhyun just stares. That dragon is a shifter? Maybe the other had spoken about Chanyeol the dragon shifter when he wasn't paying attention and too far into his head, so he gives a small smile. 

"Most of them don't even want someone to ride them," Jongdae continues, without batting an eyelash. "Having to ride a noble dragon can be seen as an honor most of the time. I just get dragged along by Channie here most of the time." He sighs. "But it suppose it is what it is." 

Jongdae continues to talk about dragons while Chanyeol huffs and keens. Baekhyun tries to keep his ears open, listening to all the words being spoken and making sure that he's not going to miss anything this time. 

Something in the back of his mind tells him that he's heard this talk before. 

Jongdae continues to talk when they find an area in which they can rest for the night. Baekhyun sets up the tents that he has inside of a bag along with a fire pit and some jerky he's had. It's not the inn that he would have liked to give to the escort, but it's the only thing that he can currently think of. Depending on how tomorrow goes, however, he might be able to do what he wants a little later. 

Baekhyun is grateful for the conversation that Jongdae gives him as it's a small escape from his mind. He's not able to think about the dreams that he's been having. He only stops to think about them when he sits down with his soul staff and stares at the soul inside. It's finally large enough to have the rebirth ritual. 

"You're ready, huh," he says to the soul and catches Jongdae's attention. 

He shifts through his bag, grabbing a couple of soul rocks and a soul crystal. Standing, he leaves the camp only to stop a little ways away. He can feel Jongdae's gaze on his movements as he sets the soul rocks and crystal on the ground in a triangle. He closes his eyes, putting up his barrier before grabbing his soul staff and taking the soul out. With a deep breath, Baekhyun begins his last story for his soul as he climbs in the middle of the triangle. 

He sits with his legs crossed, each sentence falls from his lips with more power than before. With open eyes, he watches as the soul grows larger and larger as soul pieces continue to latch on. It didn't matter how many times he's seen the release of a soul, it's still something that takes his breath away. 

But there's something odd about the story, something he can't put his finger on. Normally, he makes up his stories on the spot, depending on what kind of day he's been having, but this story feels familiar to him, like he's already told it to someone. 

"He walked to the stranger and stared him in the eyes," Baekhyun says, "confusion all over both of their faces. They had seen each other before, in some kind of dream."

Baekhyun's eyes begin to play a trick on him because suddenly he sees a clear night sky with twinkling stars in the sky. He can hear crickets in the background and feel a slight breeze. This isn't the world that he's currently in. It's too cool for that. 

"But what kind of dream would he be having? None of this made any sense to him." 

His gaze is taken away by the man standing at the edge of his triangle. He stands there with his arms crossed over his chest, but there's no face on him. He can't see the expression the man is giving him, but it feels fond. 

"Maybe in a different life or a different time will they be able to love each other. That's the only way that they can be together." 

The man walks into the triangle and kneels in front of Baekhyun. His hands touch Baekhyun's face causing Baekhyun's heart to pound in his chest. 

"When they see each other again, they'll be able to tell. That's how fate had planned it." 

Baekhyun stares into the blank face with tears in his eyes. He doesn't want to leave them. Not like this. Not now. 

Lips are pressed to his forehead and then his cheeks. He shuts his eyes when another kiss is pressed to his other cheek before there's a gentle brush against his lips. His eyes snap open and he's back with the soul out of his hands. Jongdae is standing at the edge of the triangle, worry within his eyes. He bites his lips before sighing gently. 

"You're crying, Baekhyun," he says. 

And Baekhyun knows. He knows that there are tears trickling down the side of his face but he can't help them. He can't help the sadness and the longing that's filling every fibre of his being. 

"I think I need to head to bed," he says. "Sending souls to be reborn is always a tiring task." 

Jongdae doesn't say anything and allows Baekhyun to do what he wants. 

He's quick in gathering his things before rushing off to his lynx and leaning against her. He shuts his eyes, not wanting to see the looks that will come from Jongdae anymore. He's scared that tonight he's going to be dreaming about the men who have been in his dreams but he doesn't dream anything of the sort. Instead he feels content as it feels like there's arms wrapped around his torso and his neck in a comforting way. 

Baekhyun sleeps well that night.

  
  


Baekhyun stands in the center of Town Sina, his breath coming out in hard pants. There's sweat dripping down the side of his face and he's sure that he looks like a maniac running around and not paying attention to anything but that urge is there. That urge that he's close to figuring out what's going on with him. He just doesn't know how to find it. 

He thought by running around Town Sina, he would be able to find out what that feeling meant but there's nothing. Nothing in this town is telling Baekhyun anything and he can't stand it. 

He had left his lynx with Jongdae somewhere in the entrance of Town Sina but he can’t go back to them. He needs to continue forward. 

Baekhyun rushes off again, people whispering about him but he doesn't care. 

Flashes of a small village look almost like the current town with the only difference being the banners that aren't hanging everywhere. The banners in Baekhyun's mind are red and gold, not purple and gold. Even the people are dressed a little bit differently, these people wearing pants and frilly tops while the people in his mind are dressed in long flowing dresses and tunics. 

They stop staring at him, the closer he gets to the outside of town. The first thing he sees is a giant tree on a hill. He stops running and just stares. He stares at the tree before he takes off again, towards it. Maybe an answer will be there. There has to be an answer there. 

The tree looks old the closer he gets to it but it's beautiful. He's never seen greener leaves than the ones on this tree nor has he seen such rich bark before. Silently, he laughs to himself. He never thought that he would be coming up to a tree and studying it. 

Baekhyun stops in front of the tree, his breath coming out ragged. He stares at it before sitting down and placing his head against the bark. He closes his eyes for a second before he pushes himself off the tree. His fingers run over the bark when he notices that there's something engraved on it. He looks but he really can't read it. However, his mind begins to play a scene that seems super familiar to him. 

He was standing underneath the same tree with a knife in his hand. He's making out a couple of dragons within a circle that's supposed to represent a soul. He hears snickering coming from behind him and doesn't turn around until he feels twin kisses against his cheeks. He laughs, the sound being a little bit hollow and when he comes to, he realizes that he was daydreaming again. 

Baekhyun stands and lets his feet take him somewhere else. 

Town Sina is surrounded by Ackermann Woods which he finds himself following the path that his mind has set out for him. He goes deeper into the woods, the light fading but he keeps his mind clear from any thoughts about his odd dreams. 

He soon finds himself standing in front of a building that can look like a palace. There are tall columns made out of white marble and pale stone; spires climb high into the sky, some with tiny windows that he can barely make out. Banners of purple and gold are in almost every corner, almost like the royal family did want everyone to know where they were. Palace servants walk through outside hallways, none of them paying any attention to Baekhyun, which is a little nerve wrecking. How did no one notice his presence outside of the palace walls? Wasn't there a guard or someone on duty? 

He continues to look around, his gaze landing on a plump woman who is staring at him. Her hair is black and peppered with grey strands. Her hands are on her hips as he marches towards him. 

"I'm sorry but who are you?" the woman asks. "This property is off limits to anyone but the royal family." 

"Are they here?" Baekhyun asks. 

"Yes and once again, I ask you, who are you and what are you doing here?" 

"My name is Byun Baekhyun and I am a soulkeeper from the Southern Soul Temple. I was supposed to be meeting with the king but I got lost from my escort." 

The palace servant widens her eyes and shakes her head, motioning to the palace behind her. Her entire demeanor changed the moment he told her his name. But that's not the thing bothering him the most. If the royal family is here, then for the second time in a few minutes, where are the guards?

"It's not a problem," she says quickly. "It looks like you're coming from Town Sina. I'll send word to your escort that you've made it to the Summer Palace. Meanwhile, please follow me into a sitting area so I can prepare a room for you." 

Baekhyun wants to open his mouth and say that it's okay but he only smiles and nods at the woman. She leads him into the palace where everything looks to be made from stone and marble. There's a few carved out busts of past royalty, but other than that, it's just plain. It's still beautiful and each bust and portrait he does come across has amazing detail. He finds himself amazed. 

He only notices it when the palace maid gives him an odd look, one that looks crossed between major confusion and hesitance to let him in. He takes a couple of steps back when he realizes that she should be the one leading him to a sitting area and not him. He smiles sheepishly at her while he berates and questions himself silently. 

The sitting room is at the end of one of the countless hallways they've walked through. Bookshelves are pushed against the walls, each shelf filled to the brim with books and scrolls. A couple of couches sit on one side of the room while the other has a beautiful wooden table and matching chairs. 

Baekhyun never notices when the maid leaves the room, his gaze fixated on the different bookshelves. He pulls out the first book his fingers touch, flipping it open and skimming through the pages. He does this for a couple of books before settling on a single book about the Great Dragon War. He reads about the things Jongdae tells him and a little more about the royal family like, no one other than the royal family and the dragon nobles know the names of the current ruling family. Each person is only known by their title and it is considered improper to call the name of the current royal family unless you are family. 

He's just about to turn the page with more information when there's a knock on the door. He puts the book back.

"Come in," he says. 

The door opens and it's the same maid from before. "Your room is ready. If you can follow me." 

The palace maid still doesn't seem to know what to think about Baekhyun but he can't blame her. He does seem a little fishy, even to himself. 

He finds that once again, he wants to lead the palace maid to the place where she's going but this time he stops himself from doing so. He stays a couple of steps behind her, stopping when she's stopping, and smiling when she turns back to look at him. 

They go through some more hallways, all of which Baekhyun feels like he's been through a million times, before coming to a beautiful mahogany door. The maid opens the door and motions for Baekhyun to go inside, which he does, his eyes scanning the room. 

The first thing his eyes land on is the gianormaour four poster bed in the middle of the room. Delicate fabrics hang from the top of the bed, giving it a hide away feeling that Baekhyun's a little addicted too. The drawers and side tables are made from the same wood as the door, with pictures of dragons carved along the edges. A large window opens towards the back, the purple curtains billowing in the soft breeze. A mirror in a gold and silver frame sits next to the door that leads to the washroom. 

Baekhyun keeps his eyes on the mirror, a gut feeling telling him that it's important. 

He dismisses the palace maid, giving her another smile when she leaves. Once she's gone, he moves to sit at the edge of the bed, staring at his reflection in the mirror. 

He hates how familiar this room is, how familiar this palace is. He can't stand it. 

"I don't understand anything," he mumbles quietly. "I don't understand this at all." 

Without removing anything, Baekhyun lies on the bed and closes his eyes trying to calm himself. These past few days have indeed been odd because he's not acting like himself. Normally, he doesn't act with his emotions and instead reacts with his head but for some reason, this trip is testing his patience. He opens his eyes to the ceiling before turning his head to the side. He once again stares at the mirror across the room, a sudden urge to check if there's a secret passage behind the mirror surfacing. 

There's not going to be one, right? Everything is just in his head and he's going to have to keep searching, right? 

Crossing the room, he stands in front of the mirror. 

He counts to five. 

He pushes it. 

It opens. 

...

What?

Peering into the hallway behind the mirror, he sees a couple of windows that show the setting sun and a couple of torches. He lights one before taking a deep breath. For a few minutes, he debates whether or not he wants to follow the passage but that feeling is filling his gut again. That feeling that he's about to find something important to him. 

He follows the passage. 

Cobwebs upon cobwebs line the stone hallway, the light from outside slowly turning into orange and black. The passageway twists and turns in almost every direction. Doors are left open with nothing but dust and more webs inside of them. There's even a couple of old paintings forgotten by the people who have boarded this place up. 

Baekhyun comes to a stop when the hall stops. A door made of iron and wood stands in front of him, the iron an ugly rust color. He reaches for the handle of the room, curiosity filling him to know what sits behind this closed door. He knows that he shouldn't be going around, opening doors that he has no business opening, but this door... this passageway, it means something to him. 

He grips onto the handle, not expecting the door to open when it does. He nearly jumps out of his skin. 

He walks into the room. 

The room is a massive circular room with a giant bookshelf all around. Parchment and scrolls fill the shelves, most of them with holes from the rats and insects looking for food. There's a lamp in the corner of the room that he lights to see everything else. Semi ruined gold and red banners hang from the ceiling above a table filled with paper and ink. 

Baekhyun stands in the middle of the room, tears welling up in his eyes. He looks down. 

On the ground is a massive magic circle with most of the ink dusted off. He can make out the symbols of light and dark but there's a symbol in the middle that's taking most of his attention away. He's only seen it a couple of times, the use of this symbol is banned in almost all of the kingdoms of the world, unless, of course, you have permission to use it. But who would have the permission to use the symbol of time and from the looks of it, this magical circle was trying to be used for time travel. 

Baekhyun furrows his brows, who is so important to the owner of this room that they were trying to use time travel?

He closes his eyes for a moment and when he opens them, the room is a little different. Even his position in the room is different. The two Dragon Era men are there and they're talking to each other with what Baekhyun believes are smiles on their faces. He continues his work of looking up information on how to make the Dragon Treaty to work.

"You don't have to try so hard," laughs one man. "You've done enough." 

Baekhyun huffs. "I've done nothing but be some kind of damsel in distress. I'm not a maiden that needs to be rescuing all the time." 

The other faceless man snickers. "You've done enough for us. We're alive this time and our future looks bright." He shudders. "I don't want you to go back to that era where dragons don't exist. You have been exposed to us and you know how amazing our creatures are." 

Baekhyun looks away from the two of them, ------'s words ringing in his ears. He's going to have to go back here pretty soon and he doesn't know if he's going to be able to.

"Baekhyun?" 

Baekhyun comes out of his thoughts. "Sorry I was thinking about something. What were we talking about?" 

\------ gives him a look but doesn't say anything about it. Instead he stops what he's doing and walks to Baekhyun, wrapping his arms around Baekhyun's waist and pulling him. There's a soft kiss placed on his head.

"Don't think about it."

Baekhyun smiles against ------'s chest. "I'm trying not too." 

\------ walks over to the two of them wrapping his arms around them. No one say anything for a little while until the door blows open and Baekhyun sees the same bright green eyes from before and he knows his time is up. An intense feeling of sadness fills him as he squeezes his eyes shut, his legs giving up. He falls to the ground, this time without anyone in the room and sobs into his hands. 

He just wants to know what the fuck is going on.

  
  


When Baekhyun closes the mirror there's a knock on his door. 

He opens it to see a very pissed off Jongdae, to whom he apologizes for getting lost in the first place. Jongdae only huffs at him before grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the room. He doesn't say where they are going but Baekhyun has an idea. His presence has been noted and is requested now. The King wanted to meet Baekhyun right away as he was in the Summer Palace when he came last night.

Before Jongdae brings Baekhyun to meet the king, the pats Baekhyun down before nodding to himself and walking into the room where the king sits at his study. 

The aura of the King is the first thing Baekhyun feels from him. It's an aura of indescribable power and forces his eyes to stay down and not look the man in the eyes. He stares at a point on the King's chest, the swirls of purples and golds filling his vision. 

"Hello revered soulkeeper," the King begins, "I am the king of the Dragon Kingdom, Kim Jaejoong. It's nice to meet you." 

Baekhyun bows, daring to glance at the man standing in front of him. The King's long hair is tied into a loose bun, with strands of copper hair falling out. Around his head is a simple silver crown that looks more like a head chain than a crown. 

Baekhyun lowers his eyes when clear eyes meet bright blue ones. "It's an honor to meet you, your majesty." 

"I was told that you came in last night and I apologize for not being able to meet you." 

"It's no problem. I came earlier than anyone of us expected." Baekhyun takes a deep breath and finally gathers enough courage to look at the man in front of him. There's a grunt of approval coming from him before he nods at Baekhyun's words. 

"It was still rude of me not to greet you." Baekhyun doesn't know what he can say to that so he just smiles. "I suppose we can begin with why I have called you here." King Jaejoong takes a deep breath as he looks to his hands, balling them into fists. He flattens them against the desk. "There's been a story passed down in my family for thousands of years and I'm sure that the real story has been changed over time. It begins during the Great Dragon War with the Dragon King and the Dragon Knight." 

Baekhyun's head begins to pound. He tries not to wince at the feeling but Jongdae's silent sigh in his peripheral vision is enough to tell him that he didn't do a good job. He pushes the headache away and tries to listen. 

"The story says that there's another timeline for this world and in this timeline, the Great Dragon War ended the reign of dragons with the deaths of the Dragon King and the Dragon Knight. This era became known as the Dragon Era. The Dragon Knight's soul had shattered and was found by the only Soul Temple at the time, the Southern Soul Temple." 

Images flash in Baekhyun's mind, images of the Southern Soul Temple that he can't seem to pinpoint when they happened. 

The door to the king's study opens and Baekhyun hears two different steps from behind him. He, however, doesn't turn around, not wanting to anger the king for not giving his attention to him. 

"The Dragon Knight's soul would then be nursed for thousands of years by the Southern Soul Temple until he was ready to come back into the world," says a voice. Baekhyun's eyes widen at the sound of it. He blinks a couple of times trying to get the tears that welled in his eyes to not spill over. "Once the Knight was ready, he emerged from the hands of a soulkeeper and that same day it was said that the Dragon King fell from the sky." 

The owner of the voice comes into Baekhyun's view, narrowed grey eyes look at him. Baekhyun stares at him. 

"The Dragon King, the Dragon Knight, and the soulkeeper were then sent back into time to change history," says the King, motioning for the man standing next to Baekhyun to come to him. Baekhyun realizes that it's the prince. "They fought and won the Great Dragon War, thus changing history. And because they did that, the Dragon King and the Dragon Knight never died and the reign of dragons continues." 

Flashes of a dragon he's only seen in his dreams and the faceless men appear in his mind.

"And after the war," says the prince who is still staring at him, "the soulkeeper was sent back to his time. That should be the end of the story but it's not. The Dragon King, the Dragon Knight, and the soulkeeper fell in love but fate and time wouldn't have them together. At least not yet." 

Pain sears in Baekhyun's mind. 

"The knight and the king made a promise to the soulkeeper," says the knight standing a little ways from the group. He stands taller than most of the people in the room with short blond hair, and a handsome stoic face. He wears a skin tight black and red suit with single pieces of armor on his legs, and a strapped arm amour. "They said that they wi-" 

"They will wait until the next time they meet," Baekhyun says shutting his eyes and rubbing his temples. He takes a deep breath steadying his beating heart but his eyes snap open. How did he know that?

The prince and the knight look at Baekhyun, their blue and grey eyes boring into his. 

"Do you know the names of the Dragon King and the Dragon Knight?" asks the prince. 

Baekhyun opens his mouth to say no. No one knows the names of the Dragon King and the Dragon Knight, only the dragon royal family knows. The prince begins to smile. 

"What are their names?" the knight asks. 

"I... I don't know them," Baekhyun breathes. 

"Liar," says the prince. 

The king slams his hand on the table. "That's enough, your highness." The prince barely glances at his father. 

"What are their names?" asks the knight. 

"I don't know," Baekhyun says again. 

The prince walks out from behind the couch and walks in front of Baekhyun. He looks into Baekhyun's clear eyes. "What is my name, Byun Baekhyun?" 

Pictures flood into Baekhyun's mind. Pictures and moments that history would never be able to tell. His foggy childhood that never made sense suddenly makes more sense. The guard tower and Town Maria that was supposed to be ruins make sense. The towns of Rose and Sina make sense. Everything in Baekhyun's memory makes sense. 

His dreams were never dreams, they were memories. Memories Baekhyun made when he went on his adventure to the past. Memories of a world that no longer exists. 

That emotion of longing and sadness that filled this trip to the Kingdom of Dragons suddenly feels like a bad dream the longer he stares at the man in front of him. Instead of trying to hide his tears, he lets them fall as he reaches to touch the face in front of him. 

"You two waited a long time," Baekhyun says, cupping his hand over the prince's cheek. "Didn't you?" 

The prince smiles, his mouth wide. "Name, Baekhyun. What's my name?" 

"Minseok. Kim Minseok." 

Out of the corner of his eyes, Baekhyun watches as the knight in the corner lets his hands fall slack. He strides across the room, ignoring the stunned faces of King Jaejoong and Jongdae. Baekhyun can tell that the knight hasn't thought this through but that's just the way that he's always been. 

"Sehunnie," Baekhyun nearly sobs. 

Sehun wraps Baekhyun and Minseok in his arms, pressing kisses to each of their heads. 

Baekhyun cries against Sehun's chest as a nostalgic feeling rushes over him. He's missed this. He's missed this more than he can remember. He remembers how tightly Sehun hugged him when the goddess of time came from him and the kisses Minseok planted on his lips. He remembers the taste of his tears when the goddess had to pull him away from his lovers and he remembers the glow of her green eyes when she took his memory. 

But none of that matters in this moment for him. Right now he's going to feel safe and loved. He is going to remember the trip they took and the heartache they went through when Baekhyun came back. He had to say goodbye once to the men that are holding him but this time, this time he knows that he's not going to have to say it again. 

"I missed you," he sobs. "I missed you so much." 

"I missed you," Minseok whispers in one ear. 

"I missed you so much," Sehun whispers in the other. "We kept our promise, our little soulight." 

"And we intend to continue to keep it," says Minseok. 

"Welcome home, little soullight. Welcome home.” 

**Author's Note:**

> first and foremost, i would like the thank the mods for hosting this fest. it's a wonderful fest and i honestly had so much fun with it even though i started to struggle with it in the end. the amount of notes that i have for this fic is insane and i'm a bit sad that in the end, i had to scrap most of them. i do hope that you enjoyed baekhyun's adventure in looking for his memory, though. :)


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